They work tirelessly all day under the harsh rays of a blazing sun, the stench of death and destruction around them. They are a team of Jewish heroes who are working around the clock with one mission: the recovery of human bodies.

The SA Friends of the Beit Halochem Zahal Disabled Veterans Organisation was established in Johannesburg in 1982, its primary goal being to help and support Zahal disabled veterans by raising funds to help them return and resume their normal lives as soon as possible.

There’s a popular weekly satirical show in Israel called Eretz Nehederet. In a recent episode, an actor playing Benny Gantz, the former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and newcomer to Israeli politics, is asked how he’s feeling.

Devotion to the cause of the State of Israel flourishes in the most unlikely places, even in societies where the Jewish presence is small to non-existent. Such is the case in Mozambique, where the work of Beth-El Associacao Crista Amigos De Israel - Mozambican Christian Friends of Israel - testifies to how much can be achieved by those inspired by their Christian faith to promote the Israeli cause, despite adverse conditions.

JNF’s unique “Blue Boy Box” now lives at King David Linksfield Pre-Primary so that children of each generation learn the importance of tzedakah (charity or welfare). It is the responsibility of Jews all over the world to build Israel, develop it and nurture it as the home of the Jewish nation

“Knowledge is Light” was our school motto when I was a child in Durban. The importance of education was made clear to us from as far back as I can remember. It wasn’t taken for granted. A good education was a privilege.

(JTA) Norwegian rapper not charged with hate speech
A Norwegian rapper who cursed Jews while performing at an event in Oslo promoting multiculturalism will not be charged with hate speech, because his words may have been criticism of Israel, prosecutors said.

Did Israeli soldiers violate international law by deliberately targeting unarmed children, journalists, health workers, and people with disabilities during the past year of violence along the Israel-Gaza border?

(JTA) After the New England Patriots beat the favoured Kansas City Chiefs to reach their third straight Super Bowl – their amazing ninth in less than 20 years – CBS sports analyst Boomer Esiason made an intriguing statement, namely that Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

We are winging our way towards Human Rights Day (21 March), the first public holiday of the year, which coincides with Purim. I can’t help but wonder about our concept of human rights and what it means, not least of all, to our government.

President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed in parliament last week that South Africa intended to downgrade its diplomatic presence in Israel. The foreign affairs bureaucracy was working “feverishly” on the matter. “The decision to downgrade the embassy in Israel is informed precisely by the violation of the rights of Palestinians and we are therefore putting pressure on Israel. But at the same time, we are saying we are willing to play a role and ensure there is peace,” said Ramaphosa.

Undeterred, and in spite of the hate-filled disparagement that spewed forth when Shashi Naidoo uttered positive comments about Israel and Jews last year, Haafizah Bhamjee penned a reasoned and sensible article on Israel and the Palestinians in the SA Jewish Report of 22 February.

With Prince William’s historic visit to Israel this week, all eyes have been trained on the Jewish capital. It may have taken 70 years, but the first official visit by a member of the British Royal family began in Israel on Monday, when William, the Duke of Cambridge, arrived in Tel Aviv.

Some 5 600 emissaries (shluchim) from Chabad-Lubavitch from all over the world gathered at the Pier 8 warehouse in Brooklyn, New York this week for the opening of their four-day annual international conference and banquet, 75 years after the arrival of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, from Europe.

One of the questions that haunts the story of Purim and moves silently through the lines of the Megillah is clear and chillingly simple: How could Jews have chosen to remain in Persian Shushan? It was so clearly an environment in which anti-Semitism was so prevalent that a genocide could be planned and almost implemented without comment by broader society.

“The greatness of our nation is that our people are great. We are a nation of heroes, of people with good and decent moral fibre who will not tolerate our country being plundered!” So said Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein in Pretoria this morning.“This is a struggle for accountability and justice,” Goldstein told the crowd (which included prominent Jewish CEOs like Adrian Gore, Stephen Koseff and Michael Katz). “This struggle is about sovereignty. The power of the people always triumphs in the end.”

Parshot Festivals

Insular or involved: the two ways of being Jewish

The showdown between Yehuda and Yosef starts at the beginning of our parsha, and continues for millennia until our day. Yehuda was even ready to wage a tremendous war if necessary.

As Jewish people, we have always had two approaches to our place in this world. There is the Yehuda approach, where we see him going to the Land of Goshen and setting up places of Torah ahead of his family’s arrival. Yehuda doesn’t want to mix or get involved in the nitty-gritty negotiations and running of this world. He prefers to be separate from the bad influences that roam outside. Yosef, on the other hand, not only gets involved, but climbs the rungs of power until he can influence the major political decisions of Egypt. His descendants follow his example to this day, with powerful posts in some of the world’s major countries.

It is quite in vogue to aspire to live off-grid. People don’t want to rely on the government for the essentials. People want to free themselves from being reliant on other parties for their most basic needs. The same applies to a Torah lifestyle, where groups of people are convinced that the only way to ensure the continuity of their way of life is to shield their progeny from the allure of the outside. Such groups form their own close-knit, insular bubbles, which protect them from the complexities of modern-day life and its challenges. They have the pleasure of sitting and learning or davening all day long.

However, does this work? Does the second generation of bubbled groups retain its purity as a result of protection? Conversely, do those who live outside the bubble all get sucked into the ways and “joys” of secular life? Is this second generation truly doomed? Or, have exceptional individuals arisen from these greatest of challenges?

It comes down to us choosing between two legitimate ideologies: should a Jew cut himself off from the secular world, and live in an insular Torah world, free from TV and the internet? Or should he join the world, and have the opportunity to make a Kiddush Hashem and be a light to those who he meets? Obviously, both paths have their pros and cons. The important lesson for us is to accept and tolerate all Jews and their decisions, remembering that so long as the motives are l’shem Shamayim (in the name of heaven), everyone is right!